Chapter 572: Chapter 572: Obeying in Public, Defying in Secret

Qin Yao heard Zhen Yubai’s voice, turned to look, and glanced into the classroom.

The children were quietly practicing calligraphy, and the teacher was not inside at all.

Looking at Zhen Yubai, who was walking over with a bamboo basket, Qin Yao glanced at his basket containing only a few wilted wild vegetables, and teased, "The teacher isn’t teaching in the classroom, running off to pick wild vegetables instead?"

Zhen Yubai smiled lightly and jokingly retorted, "Isn’t the village chief also not handling village affairs but wandering around the school?"

Qin Yao smiled awkwardly, "It’s going to snow soon. I came to remind the teacher that it’s inconvenient to go out when it snows, so if there’s anything that needs to be prepared, please do so early." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

In other words, she wasn’t just wandering around; she was doing her job.

"It’s going to snow?" Zhen Yubai looked up at the sky. Apart from the gray clouds, he couldn’t see anything.

Qin Yao nodded, not wanting to waste words with him, pointed to the children in the classroom waiting for the teacher to return, and got ready to leave.

"Village Chief!"

Zhen Yubai suddenly called out to her, somewhat embarrassedly asking, "Village Chief, you’re quite strong. A stone fell from the mountain in the night a few days ago. Luckily, apart from me, there’s no one else nearby, so no one got hurt. But the stone is quite large, blocking the path to the mountain at the back. Could I trouble you to move it?"

Qin Yao raised an eyebrow, "Where is it?"

Zhen Yubai was delighted, hurriedly pointed behind the school, "Village Chief, please follow me. It’s not far behind the house."

Qin Yao looked at him with interest and harmlessness, shrugged, and followed.

Indeed, it wasn’t far, just a few steps away.

It had rained a few days ago, causing the mountain to slide. Besides the large stone Zhen Yubai mentioned, there were many small stones lying across the path, blocking the way up the mountain.

The back mountain was rarely visited, so the blocked path was not much of an inconvenience. But since Zhen Yubai had mentioned it, Qin Yao waved for him to step aside and approached the large stone.

"By the way, where should I push it?" Before moving it, Qin Yao asked puzzled.

She thought she would most likely push it to a place that doesn’t block the path or directly down the slope, as long as it’s not in the way.

Unexpectedly, Zhen Yubai smiled and tentatively asked, "Could I trouble the Village Chief to push this large stone to the open space in front of the school? It’s rare to have such a large stone, and I want to make a small hill landscape with the children for the school."

Hearing this request, Qin Yao’s mind went blank for a moment. She was stunned for a moment before coming to her senses and couldn’t hold back her temper, giving Zhen Yubai a cold glare, "The nerve you have to make such a rude request, teacher!"

Zhen Yubai’s smile froze. He stepped back two steps, making enough space for the large stone and her to pass through, bowed slightly, "I thank the Village Chief on behalf of the students in advance."

What more could Qin Yao say? She was already there!

"Move further away."

This crude language made Zhen Yubai even more awkward, but he couldn’t take back the words once said. He obediently retreated further.

The large stone was about half a person’s height and required four adults to encircle it. It was an irregular oval shape. Qin Yao tested it and picked a convenient position, gave a low shout of "Hey," and lifted the entire large stone.

As if no one was around, she carried the massive stone, which was about five or six times her size, toward the open space in front of the school, walking steadily without showing any strain.

Zhen Yubai was dumbfounded, staring blankly for five or six seconds before hurriedly lifting the bamboo basket to catch up.

He looked at Qin Yao with shock, then at the deep imprints left by her feet, shaking his head wildly, thinking he was hallucinating.

She really possessed extraordinary divine power!

The experience of personally witnessing it was entirely different than hearing about it. Watching Qin Yao as she stopped because her nose itched, holding up the stone with one hand, and scratching her nose with the other, Zhen Yubai’s eyes almost bulged out.

"Where should I put it?"

Her impatient question came from the front, making Zhen Yubai hurry forward to point out a location, "Village Chief, you can place it in the center of the open space..."

Detecting the tremor in his voice, Qin Yao mocked inwardly; his psychological resilience wasn’t that strong.

With a loud "boom," the stone settled into the mud, startling the students in the classroom.

The children turned their heads toward the source of the sound, seeing a large stone appear out of nowhere in the center of the open space, their mouths agape.

Zhen Yubai stealthily closed his slightly open mouth, stepped out from behind the stone, and barked at the students, "Continue practicing calligraphy!"

Only then did the students turn back, bending over their desks to continue practicing. Yet whispers from the room still revealed their true state.

Qin Yao patted the mud off her hands, raised her chin slightly, and asked, "Teacher, is there anything else that needs to be moved? If not, I’ll be heading back. There are a lot of village affairs to handle, and I haven’t finished my work yet."

Zhen Yubai: "No, nothing else."

Seeing his dazed appearance, Qin Yao couldn’t help but chuckle lightly, "Then I’m off. Teacher, teach the students well."

Zhen Yubai looked at her with a wooden expression as she walked down the mountain, finally snapping out of it when the cold mountain wind blew over him, turning around to stare at the large stone in the center of the open space in disbelief.

In a sudden impulse, he put down the basket and hoe and went to the stone, attempting to push it.

It didn’t budge!

Zhen Yubai felt as if the stone was mocking him. He tried again, putting his tiptoes into effort, but the stone remained motionless.

What on earth did Qin Yao eat to grow this strong?

With that brief contact, he already got the result he wanted; the faint fragrance he smelled when he visited Lotus Courtyard twice at night was indeed from her.

Thinking of this, in the cold weather, Zhen Yubai broke out into a sweat, feeling anxious.

Unexpectedly, in this small mountain village, there was actually such a hidden master. If not for his innate heightened sense of smell and perception letting him notice the unique aroma in the air, he might not have known he was being watched.

Plus, Qin Yao’s housekeeper, Ah Wang, who doesn’t speak much, doesn’t seem like a normal person either.

Fortunately, Zhen Yubai was glad that he wasn’t opposed to them, so he could continue being a teacher.

As for Mr. Gongliang... The gentleman doesn’t want to return to the Capital, so what can a small figure like him do?

Looking up at the school in front of him, Zhen Yubai shrugged. He’d done what he could; Mr. Gongliang’s refusal to return is Mr. Gongliang’s concern, not something higher-ups could blame him for.

After all, he was just a scholar who managed to pass his exams, there wasn’t much more they could do to degrade him.

But to stay long-term in this hidden village, he had to write another letter, report to his superiors, and go through the motions.

After finishing the day’s lessons and seeing off all the students, Zhen Yubai immediately wrote a letter, detailing the event where Gongliang Liao had previously ordered him to leave, expressing his helplessness and frustrations.

The letter was sealed and given to the cooking lady going into town to buy supplies, asking her to deliver it to the city.

However, Zhen Yubai didn’t know that once he handed off the letter, he was already under Ah Wang’s watchful eye.